In the first movie of the series, we are introduced to the kindly Dr. Christian (Hersholt), who runs the small clinic in the town of River's End. With the town growing, Dr. Christian petitions the mayor for money to build a new hospital. But the mayor believes the good Doctor is too old-fashioned, and wants to replace the doctor with a more "modern" medicine man, along with commissioning a new highway to be built through the town. When the mayor's young daughter is injured in an accident, Dr. Christian is able to perform extremely delicate surgery without having the correct medical instruments. The town counsil is so impressed with Dr. Christian that they not only allow him to keep his job, but have been convinced to build the new hospital.